Evgenia Medvedeva: I want to skate as long as possible.

Partly translation of a video-interview with Evgenia Medvedeva for sovsport.ru

Did you have a day off after Worlds?

– Yes, one.

What did you do?

– Slept.

You could ask your coach for a week of rest.

– A week?! One day is quite enough for me.

Before that, Ilia Averbukh said that Zhenya still should pass the test of fame. This test started probably a year ago.

– In my opinion, there is no easy profession, and every profession has its own test of glory. It’s not easy for anyone today.

Just there are examples, I will not tell any names, whom this test of glory broke…Is there any way to abstract from this?

– Support of the loved ones. It’s the most important.

Recently was announced that Adelina Sotnikova will train with Evgeni Plushenko. How do you think, is there a chance for her to be selected to the national Olympic team?

– Each person has his own opinion and has the right to decide on his destiny, so I can not say anything, I can only wish Adelina good luck.

I read somewhere that you started figure skating at the age of 3 when you saw Evgeni Plushenko on TV.

– This is probably the only memory that I have from the early childhood connected with figure skating. Yes, it was Evgeni Plushenko.

And then when you watched figure skating, who was you favorite in women’s skating?

– Honestly, I started to follow figure skating and watch it only from the age of 14. Before that, I was training hard and I did not watch every competition and didn’t know every participant. Therefore, I completely immersed myself in figure skating also off ice only after 14.

Often happens, for example football player is asked and he says that he does not watch football on TV, not interesting for him.

– I also thought so. I was sitting in front of the TV and thought, what didn’t I see there? Now I watch every competition, every discipline, trying to find something new for myself. So it is not only an aesthetic pleasure and some kind of azarat, but also a professional interest.

Returning to the question about Sotnikova. Adelina is 20 years old. She’s an Olympic champion, a great athlete, but figure skating now is a very tough sport. Being 19-20 years old you are already a veteran and it’s very difficult to qualify. Does it frustrates somehow, that you can not relax?

– Yes, it’s true, you can’t relax, because the competition in our country and internationally increased a lot. And there are more and more competitors appear, who also work hard day by day. You can not relax for a day, even for a minute …. and you talked about a week after the Worlds! Here’s an example for you. That’s why just one day of rest. Because you can not relax and the World Team Trophy is soon, where also it’s necessary to perform very worthy. And no, it does not upset, it’s our job.

Is the World Team Trophy different? Is it a serious-serious, or you can relax a little bit? Still it’s not an official competitions.

– I do not know, I have nothing to compare with, this is my first World Team Trophy. Last year there was a Team Challenge Cup, but it’s a bit different competition.

Does it bother you that it’s a team competition? That you can perform well and someone can let down or vice versa?

– We have an individual sport and when you compete in a team it’s something new, some new feelings and a new experience. I find this interesting, such happens not often, team competitions in figure skating are unusual, I think. I expect to have fun.

Of course, you most likely will perform perfectly, having a big gap from rivals. And some hypothetical Kolyada will perform worse. Will you say him “Why are you letting us down?”

– No, I will not say anything, because we are all people, everyone makes mistakes, everyone can feel bad, have a bad mood, a lot depends on external factors. Yes, you need to cope with this. But sometimes it does not work out and there are situations when you can not blame a person.

The question about our guys. Why are they so lagging behind?

– All questions to the guys (laughs)

You spoke of a bad mood. What can upset you?

– I’m not getting upset on the ice, I’m very angry if something doesn’t turn out. I do not have such that I’m giving up. Otherwise, I am so angry that I go and do again and again. I’m never upset on the ice.

About Team Trophy. Everyone understands that there are two main contenders for victory: Russia and Canada. Can someone else intervene in the battle for gold?

– I watched the lists of participants, and Canada is really one of the strongest contenders. So I think that there will be a fight between Russia and Canada.

Was it expected that the Canadian girls will improve so much? The second and third place at the World Championships it’s very serious.

– In our sport, we must never underestimate our competitors. Because we all skate in different countries, with different coaches and we do not know what our rivals are preparing for the next competition. Therefore, yes, it was quite expected that at the World Championships all will have may not an ideal, but very good shape.

I want to know a secret. In figure skating, everyone fall and now there is a figure skater who doesn’t fall. What’s the secret?

– Daily training. But it’s not without falls. This season, I also made mistakes, I fell too. Just at training, you must try to reduce the percentage of falls and failures to a minimum, as much as possible. That’s what we try to do.

And psychologically, how do you prepare yourself? Do you have any methods? Someone is talking to the coach, someone is listening to music.

– I guess my option is the second one. But this is very individual. Someone needs to calm down, someone on the contrary lacks adrenaline. Music helps me. I never smile, I never talk before the start. If only with the coach. It does not mean that I’m angry at that moment or something is going wrong with me, or I’m nervous. No, it’s just shrink into my shell completely. So much that sometimes I do not even hear that someone is talking around.

What kind of music?

– Very different, but mostly k-pop. My favorite team is EXO, I’m a big fan.

Alexander Smirnov, an adult man, said that the Petersburg psychologist recorded him some psychological settings and he was listening it before the start.

– I have never worked with a psychologist and I think that I do not need this.

I talked with Sergei Karjakin, our best chess player and he told how in his opinion the world champion should look in an ideal proportion: 30% talent, 50% hard work, 10% psychological and 10% physical training. What’s your ideal proportion?

– Talent can be even the lowest percentage. Hardworking should be more than 50% for sure. I’d say 80%. And 5% psychological and 5% physical preparation. Because hard work raises, both psychology, and physical shape to the needed level.

But if you take a week pf rest, the skills would not go anyway!

– A week, maybe a couple of weeks we have in the off-season. When we can go on vacation. But there I also do cardio trainings, run, do exercises for abs, back.

And maybe to eat something. That you can’t eat during the season. Chocolate cake….

– I’m not a fan of cakes and pastries. If there is a choice to eat something very high-calorie or fruit-vegetables, then I will choose fruits and vegetables, because I will get exactly such pleasure as from a cakes.

Some like fast-food….

– I’m already so out of this habit. And I’m very happy about that.

What are your plans after World team trophy?

– We will b prepare for the next season and usually at this time we break into new skates and learn new elements. I’ll have a rest in May. We’ll fly for 5 days to Japan, from there to China for a resort vacation.

What sports are interesting besides figure skating?

– Gymnastics. I know our girls, Rio’s silver medalists.

What was at the party after the World Championships?

– Banquet. But I did not stay there long.

And how do such parties pass? Is it fun or all are already tired?

– Usually we dance. Especially the Russians. The Russians are the first to go to the dance floor.

And who is the best dancer?

– Katya Bobrova is a ringleader

At the World Championships, there was a British lady, a mother of three children, who returned to the sport. Can you imagine this for yourself? Or you haven’t thought about it?

She sounds reasonable and talks about her competitors with respect. It is always impressive how calm and collected she can be at such young age. She can be so focused on what she needs to do. She is never imtimidated by good performances of her competitors. I hope that she’ll skate long, it may be interesting to watch her in more mature programs.

I have never been a fan of her. But I was asked to do a translation of her video-interview (not this one) and watching that interview I was really impress and I actually understood why she’s so successful. She knows what she wants, she’s very focused, she perceives figure skating as her job and all her life is built around skating. Full concentration.